Holds-wrorth (Hols-worth, Oldsworth, or Oldisworth), Richard, an English divine, was born in 1590, and educated at St. Jolm's College, Cambridge. Later he became a fellow of that university. In 1620 he was appointed one of the twelve preachers at Cam- bridge, was then called to St.Peter-le-Poor, London, and in 1629 was appointed professor of divinity at Gresham College. In 1631 he was made prebendarj' of Lincoln, in 1633 was further promoted to tlie archdeaconry of Huntingdon, and in 1637 was recalled to Cambridge as master of Emanuel College. He was a zealous adherent to the cause of Charles I, and suffered on this account by imprisonment at the outbreak of the Rebellion. He died in 1649. Holdsworth wrote, besides a large col- lection of sermons, of which a list is given by Darling {Cyclopcedia Bibliogr. i, 1509) and by Allibone (Diet, of Authors, i, 863), Prcelectiones Theolofjicce (London, 1661, fol.), published by his nephew. Dr. Wm. Pearson, with the life of the author:— J '(/^% of Vision, in twenty-one sermons (London, 1651, 4to), of which Fuller speaks in verj"^ commendatory terms, paying the following tribute to Holdsworth (also cited by Allibone) : '• The author was composed of a learned head, a gracious heart, a bountiful hand, and a patient back, comfortably and cheerfully to endure such heavy afflictions as were laid upon him." — Hook, Eccles. Bio(j. vi, 106 sq.
Holdsworth, Winch, D.D., fellow of St. John Baptist's College, was born in the first half of the 18th century, and educated at Oxford University. He is es- pecially celebrated on account of his controversy with Locke, which arose from his views on the Resurrection of the Bod;/ (Oxford, 1720, 8vo ; and the same defended, Lond. 1727, 8vo).— AUibone, Diet, of Authors, i, 863.
Hole, iMatthew, D.D., a learned English divine, was born about 1640. He entered the University of Oxford as servitor at Exeter College in 1657, was elect- ed fellow in 1663, and became jM.A. in 1664, prebendary of Wells in 1667, and rector of his college in 1715. He died in 1730. His sermons were of high repute in their day. Among his WTitings are A n A ntidote ac/ainst In- fidelity (Lond. 1702, 8vo) -.—Practical Discourses on the Liturgy of (he Church of England (new ed. by the Rev.
J. A. Giles, Lond. 1837, 4 vols. 8vo): — A pj-acfical Expc sition of the Church Catechism (od ed. Lond. 1732, 2 vols. 8vo) : — Practical Discourses on the Nature, Properties, and Excellencies of Charity (Oxf. 1725, 8yo). — Darling, Cyclopcedia Bibliographica, i, 1515.
Holgate, archbishop of York under king Edward YI, was one of the prelates of the Reformers who were silenced under queen Mary shortly after her accession to the throne of England, under the pretense that their marriage relations were non-ecclesiastical. Later (Oct. 4, 1553) he was imprisoned in the Tower, and kept there until January 18 of the following year, when he was pardoned. The dates of the birth and death of Holgate arc not known. — Strype's 7l/f»2orJa/A" of the Reformation, iv, 57 sq. ; Hardwick, Hist, of the Christian Church dur- ing the Reformation, p. 234.
Holidays. See Holy-day ; Festivals.
Holiness (n'lp,ayto(ri'i')j),prop. the state of sanc- tity, but often used of external or ceremonial relations (then more prop. o(ji6ri]Q).
1. Intrinsic Idea. — " Holiness suggests the idea, not of perfect virtue, but of that peculiar affection where- with a being of perfect virtue regards moral evil ; and so much, indeed, is this the precise and characteristic im- port of the term, that, had there been no evil either act- ual or conceivable in the universe, there would have been no holiness. There would have been perfect truth and perfect righteousness, j^et not holiness ; for this is a word which denotes neither any one of the virtues in particular, nor the assemblage of them all put together, but the recoil or the repulsion of these towards the op- posite vices — a recoil that never would have been felt if vice had been so far a nonentity as to be neither an object of real existence nor an object of thought" (Chal- mers, Nut. Theol. ii,380). — Krauth, Fleming's Vocab. of Philos. p. 217.
II. Applications of the Term. — 1. In the highest sense, holiness belongs to God alone (Isa. vi, 3 ; Rev. xv, 4), because he only is absolutely good (Luke xviii, 19), and thus demands the supreme veneration of those who would themselves become good (Luke i,49; John xvii, 1 1 ; Acts iii, 14 [iv, 27, 30] ; 1 John ii, 20 ; Heb. vii, 26 ; Rev. iv, 8). See Holiness of God.
2. Men are called holy {a) in as far as they are ves- sels of the Holy Spirit and of divine power, e. g. the prophets ; and also in as far as they belong to an organ- ization which is dedicated to God. In the'N. T. Chris- tians are especially holy, as being wholly consecrated to God's service. (Comp. Rom. viii, 27 ; xii, 13 ; 1 Cor. vi, 2; Eph. ii, 19; v, 3; vi, 18; Col. i, 11; iii, 12; 2 Pet. i, 21 ; Rev. xiii, 10 ; Jude 14.) Men are also called holy (b) in so far as they are or become habitually good, de- nying sin, thinking and acting in a godlike manner, and, in short, conforming, in their innermost being, as well as in their outward conduct, to the highest and absolute law or the will of God (Rom. vi, 19, 22; Eph. i,4; Tit. i,8; IPet. i, 15; Rev.xx,6).